Ben Swift and Ian Stannard will remain with Team Sky for third consecutive season
David Brailsford of Team Sky Procycling has retained three more of its cyclists for the coming season. It has been announced that Ben Swift and Ian Stannard will remain with the team for 2012.
The team further strengthened itself after it announced the signing of the World Champion, Mark Cavendish.
Ian Stannard will be staying with the team for the third consecutive season as he joined the team in 2010. He won the stage 5 of Tour of Austria 2011 and finished 4th at the Paris-Tours this year.
The 24-year-old commented on re-joining the team, “I’ve learned so much from my first two seasons with Team Sky and am excited about what the future holds now I have signed this new deal”.
Stannard was part of the group that helped Mark Cavendish win at the UCI World Road Championships 2011.
The cyclist was keen to ride at the classics next year and is positive for the coming season.
He said, “The Classics are where I want to specialise so I will be working hard to try and hit the ground running next spring. For the rest of next season I’m happy riding on the front and getting involved in the lead-outs, and if I can get in a few breakaways
along the way then hopefully there could be some more victories to come”.
Ben Swift is another cyclist who will be a huge support for Mark Cavendish and Team Sky.
Swift joined the British squad in 2010 and helped the team during many events. He finished 3rd overall at the Tour Down Under 2011 along with stage 2 and stage 6 victories.
Ben managed to secure the stage 5 win at the Vuelta a Castilla y Leon and Tour de Romandie this year.
The Englishman was fabulous during the Tour of California as he won stage 2 at the event this year. He mentioned that the opportunity to represent Team Sky for another season was great.
Swift mentioned that he is “over the moon” after signing the new contract as he stated that the team had extended substantial support to him during the past seasons.
Simon Gerrans left Team Sky as he joined GreenEdge for 2012.
Sergio Luis Henao, Riche Porte, Bernhard Eisel, Luke Rowe and Cavendish are the new entrants in Team Sky for the coming season.
Both, David Brailsford and Ben Swift expressed great delight at being retained by their former team, Team Sky Procycling.
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